Chase the Ace and Its Variations

Chase the Ace, in fact, is a game for children, which, despite this is often played for money. There are many variations and additional rules for the game. In the example below we will explain the classic variation of a money game that you can find in card rooms.

The first thing to take into the account before playing Chase the Ace game is that the game is very long and the stakes must be high enough to make it worth the while. When the stakes are determined, each player should place three equal piles of money in front of him, which will be used for three turns of the game.

How to Play

Each player receives one face-down card. If he likes the card, he keeps it, and if he does not, he exchanges it with the card of the player to his left. The game starts from the player to the dealer's left (Player A), so he is the first to make his choice. If he decides to exchange his card, the player to his left (Player B) must accept it and give Player B his card. Now it's Player B's turn, so if he does not like the card he received from Player A, he can exchange it with Player C, sitting to his left. The game continues the same way, until the dealer's turn. The dealer is the last player in the circle and can not exchange his card with anyone. So, if he does not like the card he has in his turn, he draws a new card from the deck and discards the old one.

After the dealer makes his this decision, the round is over. All players reveal their cards and the player with the lowest card at the table loses one of the piles he has placed in the beginning of the game. If two or more players have equal cards and these cards are the lowest at the table, all these players lose one pile. When a player loses all three piles, he leaves the game. The last remaining player wins the entire pot, composed of bets of all other players.

Kings are the highest cards in the game and Aces are the lowest ones, so the game is called Chase the Ace, because whichever player receives an ace he will immediately exchange it, and aces will be running around the table all the time until getting to the dealer or being exchanged in the opposite direction.

Grace or Welfare

As mentioned above, Chase the Ace has many variations and additional rules. One of such rules is called Grace or Welfare round. This rule allows players who lost all their piles to stay in the game until they lose once again. Grace round makes the game even longer than it already is.

King Stop Play

King Stop Play is another alternative rule that allows a player who gets a King to finish the round at any given moment. All this player needs to do is to throw his King face-up on the table. When he does so, other players can not exchange cards anymore and must play the cards they have in their hands.

The Styner Rule says that if only two players remain at the table, both of them have the last pile (or play their Grace round), and get equal cards, the whole game is reset and played from the beginning by all players with the old pot remaining in the game and the players placing new bets and doubling the pot. This is another rule that makes Chase the Ace even longer than it already is and can be substituted by simply sharing the pot by two winners in such situation.